Conventional wheelchair foot rests usually take the form of a flat plate member journalled at one side edge for rotation about a forwardly extending journalling tube so that the plate may be swung from a generally horizontal to a generally vertical position to provide easy access for a patient into the wheelchair. After the patient is seated, the foot rest plates are swung downwardly to a substantially level or horizontal position and the patient's feet placed on the rests.
In order to avoid the necessity of a nurse or doctor holding the foot rest plate in a generally vertical plane when it is swung upwardly, the foot rest structure is designed to hold itself in a generally vertical plane once it has been swung to that position. A common means for accomplishing this holding of the foot rest plate is to provide a small metallic leaf type spring which exerts a friction force against the journalling tube and is normally secured to an underside portion of the plate itself.
With structures of the foregoing type, the journalling tube itself which is normally chrome-plated becomes scratched and worn by continuous contact with the leaf spring. Moreover, corrosion can eventually take place making it very difficult to move the foot rest plates, particularly if the wheelchair has not been in use for along period of time. On the other hand, when a wheelchair is in constant use, so that the foot rest plate is raised and lowered many times, the effectiveness of the frictional engagement of the leaf spring with the journalling tube decreases to the extent that proper holding of the plate in a swung or set position is not always assured.
In other proposed designs, simple friction means such as 0-rings have been proposed, but such of these solutions as have been tried have resulted in annoying squeaking noises when the plate is moved.
The foregoing problems could be overcome by providing more complicated arrangements such as spring-actuated detent balls and suitable dimples and the like. Such proposed solutions merely increase the overall manufacturing expense and again relies on a spring which can eventually become worn and lose its elastic properties constituting a disadvantage. In addition, with certain types of indexing means, the swung plate is only held in the two positions, to wit: the horizontal used position or the vertical, out-of-the-way position. In some instances, it might be desirable to have the plate secured in any intermediate swung position. Moreover, even with the more expensive sophisticated versions, the apparatus is still susceptible to squeaking noises.